


A Bludger Would Hurt Less

by randomcanbian



Series: Challenge on Infinite Earths: Carmilla Edition [1]
Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: F/F, Hogwarts AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-28
Updated: 2015-02-28
Packaged: 2018-03-15 15:17:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,684
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3451985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/randomcanbian/pseuds/randomcanbian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Danny underestimates Carmilla and it bites her in the ass; also Elsie has a hard time keeping it in her pants.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Bludger Would Hurt Less

**Author's Note:**

> i'm so sorry i'm churning out so many AUs
> 
> Also, if you recognize any of the names I used for my "OCs"—I'm so sorry.
> 
> ///
> 
> "Day" 1: Hogwarts AU

The sky is overcast, a drab gray that just threatens a second deluge. It’s been drizzling since students started entering the stadium, but as the two teams begin walking across the field to meet one another, Danny notices that the raindrops are getting fatter and heavier. It won’t be too long ‘til it becomes proper rain. They’d probably have to deal with sheets of water, she thinks, judging by the storm the winds are promising. The seekers are gonna have a hell of a time finding the snitch.

Speaking of which, this is the first time she’ll be seeing the new Ravenclaw seeker.

The nerds got them under lock-and-key, that one. Usually, everyone in Hogwarts—the Quidditch-interested, at least—would have known who it was by now. For such a big school, word travels fast. Now though, Danny doesn’t even know what gender they are.

She’s not worried though. They’ve got a great team, and their own seeker is insanely quick, mentally and physically. It won’t matter if the new seeker’s good—they’re better.

“Do you see the newbie?” Elsie whispers.

“Give me a sec.”

They’re still a way off from the other team, but Danny can see well enough to find the mystery seeker at the right of the formation. Her hair’s tied up in a ponytail which looks exactly like Megido’s, but the girl herself is a couple of inches shorter than the Ravenclaw Keeper, and, if Danny was generous, maybe half her size.

“Okay, I sorta see her. Merlin, she’s small,” Danny says. “Wind’s going to blow her all over the place.”

Elsie cranes her neck to look over Teresa. “Where is she?”

“To the right.” Danny starts grinning when Elsie fidgets and squints to try and get a better look. “You know, you could just wait until we get closer, right?”

“Whatever,” Elsie replies, although she does stop fidgeting.

The wind picks up when the two teams finally meet and their captains shake hands.

“Fuck.” Elsie says.

“What?” Her bangs are being blown into her eyes, and she’s starting to regret not swallowing her pride and foregoing Perry’s suggestion of using bobby pins.

“Newbie, Dan. She’s _hot_.”

Danny holds back her hair and narrows her eyes to see against the wind. Now that they’re closer, she can actually make out who’s who. She zones in on the right flank and okay wow Elsie’s not wrong.

“She’s hot,” Danny agrees. “Try to keep it in your pants though, Els. We’ve got a game to win, if you remember.”

“As if I’d forget,” Elsie scoffs. She, and the rest of the players, get on their brooms at Professor Cochrane’s last words, and at her signal take flight to the roaring cheers of the students seated.

“Pretty little thing won’t see me coming.”

///

The rain’s pelting hard enough to sting whatever bare skin it touches, and the wind is howling at terrifying speeds. Why they’re even allowed to play in these conditions is beyond her, but to be honest, Danny doesn’t mind.

The rush, the thrill, the danger—it’s _euphoric_.

Playing the game is almost as good as winning it.

“Billy! Pass me the bloody ball!” Danny has to scream to be heard above the roaring of the wind, but whatever, it works—her co-chaser flings the Quaffle to her, and she catches it by the tip of her glove-clad fingers.

Two of the Ravenclaw chasers who were hounding Billy trail after her, even as she shoots towards the opponent’s side of the field. A Bludger by Elsie, however—which Danny barrel-rolls to dodge—swiftly knocks them off course, and after a quick feint to her left, Danny disorients the Keeper long enough for her to shoot a goal.

“Spectacular shot by Danny Lawrence! What a feint that was! Fifty-to-thirty, Gryffindor leading!” the commentator shouts, barely heard over the roaring of the wind and the cheers of the spectators. Elsie and Dave fly by her for a high-five, before all three scatter further outfield as they wait for the game to continue.

Danny uses the lull to scope out Kaidan. She finds him circling the pitch a couple of tens of feet above the rest of the game. After a few seconds, he descends, but the lack of speed makes it obvious that he hasn’t seen metaphorical hide nor hair of the Snitch.

“The match continues as Ravenclaw Keeper Aradia Megido throws the Quaffle to Chaser Ed Elric!”

Danny takes her eyes off Kaidan and focuses on Elric. The Quaffle’s in his hands, and it looks like he has his sights set on passing it to Maryon. She flies to intercept him, sparing just a glance to check if Teresa’s covering Croft.

She’s halfway to the group when a literal blur passes by. Danny processes the streak for a millisecond before she roars.

“STRIDER! HAIGHT! IT’S THE NEWBIE!”

“SHE’S GETTING THE SNITCH!” she’d add, but Dave is on the Bludger in a flash; he bats the iron ball towards the Seeker, and even though the newbie’s just a couple of feet away from the Snitch, she’ll have to dodge it, otherwise get a solid 67 kilograms of solid metal square in the face. By the time she gets right-side up, the Snitch’ll be gone.

Danny lets out the breath she didn’t know she was holding, and starts making her way to Mar—

The crowd roars.

She turns just in time to see the newbie actually _jump off her broomstick_.

The Bludger flies under her legs with millimetres to spare, and mid-arc the girl makes a swiping motion at the air in front of her. She falls, before catching onto her broomstick’s handle with her left hand. In a few moments, she’s seated once again, flying towards her team mates with her right hand held high above her.

“BLOODY HELL!” the commentator screams. “Carmilla Karnstein everyone! Making her debut by winning the game and wowing us with a fucking extraordinary stu—sorry Professor, no swearing, no swearing, right.”

Danny clenches her jaw as she descends.

“What was that about the newbie getting blown around,” Elsie mumbles as she hovers towards her. The mud squelches beneath their boots when they land, and only protest further as they walk towards the rest of their team mates.

“Shut up,” is all that Danny replies with. She turns to the rest of the players and catches Dave’s attention with a pat on the back.

“That was a great hit, Strider. Anyone in the right mind would have gotten out of the way.”

Dave shrugs as he puts on his sunglasses and shoots her a grin. “Too bad—what’s her name, Karnstein?—too bad she’s one of the crazies, huh? Seriously though, respect. That was a dope-ass move, all ninja and shit. Jackie Chan would have been proud.”

Dave’s metaphors would be maybe 10% more amusing if they weren’t so obscure. “Jackie Chan is—”

“Muggle shit. Seriously Lawrence, we need to get you updated on non-magical pop culture. If my laptop didn’t go bezerko around all this hocus-pocus we’d have movie marathoned a hundred classics by now.”

Danny just nods—her attention shifts to the other team as they shake the members’ hands.

“Great job with the catch,” she says, as she reaches Karnstein. Her hand completely envelopes the Seeker’s—it’s a wonder, Danny muses, how her small hands managed to catch the Snitch at all.

She’s joking of course. Mostly.

“You weren’t too bad yourself, Big Red.” Her voice is, objectively, as attractive as her face, a thought that she’s probably going to hear out loud from a certain Beater later in the Common Room. Danny takes a quick look over her shoulder before shaking the hand of the next Ravenclaw player and, just as she thought, Elsie has The Face on.

Elsie only has The Face on when she’s trying hard not to embarrass herself, which usually happens when she’s talking to a pretty girl she wants to impress. Frankly, it’s a little self-defeating: The Face usually means Elsie has her brow furrowed, her nostrils flaring, and her mouth strained at the corners which, all in all, makes her look constipated.

Danny, good friend that she is, mentioned The Face to her before, but what can she do when Elsie adamantly denies The Face’s existence?

“Great job, guys,” Diana says, once the handshaking is over. She high-fives each and every one of them, a tradition after every match, lose or win, shine or apocalyptic downpour. Once all the fives are highed, they huddle together to conserve body warmth, and walk as a pack to the nearest cover.

“I saw some superb flying on my side of the field. I think that if we didn’t underestimate their new Seeker, we would have won.”

“Sorry guys,” Kaidan pipes up. “I might have been scouting in the same place too long—” Protests begin filling the air immediately, a chorus of “no’s” and “it’s-not-your-fault’s”.

“Shut up, bro,” Dave says, putting his arm around Kaidan’s shoulders, “we’re in the middle of a fucking monsoon, and the field was as dark as Filch’s nostril hair. We can’t really blame you if you can’t find a tiny-ass ball.”

“But Karnstein—”

“—was either really lucky, or had her eyes left permanently charmed by a spell that went wrong,” Elsie interrupts. “Plus, like the Cap said, if we didn’t underestimate her we could’ve sent a Bludger before it was too late, sent her off-course. Dozens of could-have’s, would-have’s, should-have’s, K, they don’t all have to be yours.”

Kaidan scratches his head. “I—I guess you’re right.”

“Damn right I am,” Elsie crows.

“For once,” Diana says, which sets off the team. Danny and her teammates laugh as Elsie glares at the Captain and she thinks, maybe, losing isn’t so bad after all.

(Also, it’s still the first game of the season. If— _when—_ they win against whoever loses the Hufflepuff/Slytherin match, they’ll be back in the running for the championship.

They’ll lick their wounds, learn from their mistakes, and form a plan—this time factoring in Ravenclaw’s not-so-inexperienced seeker.

They’ll win next time, for sure.)


End file.
